Jefferson
Portal jumper Thief |home = His Storybrooke mansion His house His cottage His Enchanted Forest mansion |species = Human |gender = Male |haircolor = Brown |eyecolor = Blue |relatives = seefamily |portrayedby = Sebastian Stan |firstappearance = Hat Trick |latestappearance = Out of the Past |latestmention = The Final Battle Part 1}} Jefferson, also known as the Mad Hatter, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the seventeenth episode of the first season and is portrayed by guest star Sebastian Stan. Jefferson is based on the Hatter from the novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the Mad Hatter from the Disney film Alice in Wonderland. History At some point, possibly around the same time as he obtains or makes his original hat, Jefferson obtains or makes at least one other version of his portal jumping hat. At Rumplestiltskin's behest, he goes searching for a crystal ball and a pair of slippers. Only finding the crystal ball, Jefferson returns to the Dark One's castle to deliver it, although he wasn't able to acquire the slippers. Prior, he also promised to assist Rumplestiltskin in a scheme to force one of his magic pupils, Regina, to move on from her past. Since she wishes to resurrect her dead lover, Daniel, and stubbornly refuses to give up, Jefferson mentions knowing a wizard from another world who can revive the dead. In return for bringing this man to her, he asks for a royal pass to travel throughout the kingdom without restrictions, which she consents to. After the wizard, Victor, is brought to the Enchanted Forest, he examines Daniel's corpse, which is in suitable condition for the resurrection, and then hand-picks a heart from a vault. As Jefferson and Regina wait outside a tent, Victor attempts the procedure on Daniel and fakes a failed revival. While this leaves Regina heartbroken and left with no choice but to let go of her deceased lover, Rumplestiltskin gives Victor a heart as payment for his services, to which Jefferson then transports the doctor home through the hat. Later, Jefferson arrives to Camelot to steal the king's treasures, only to find another thief, Priscilla, is already there and after the same prize as him. To elude the real guards, Priscilla takes him with her out a window, before they both escape into the portal hat. After having many thieving adventures together, the pair fall in love, marry and have a daughter, Grace. Two years later, their finances dwindle, but when Jefferson learns from William that the March Hare has the Clock of Evermore, he plans to steal and sell it to provide for his family. However, he is captured by the March Hare, who rewinds time with the clock and forces him to stay for a never ending tea party. With the White Rabbit's help, Priscilla crosses worlds to rescue him, but Jefferson insists on retrieving his hat from the March Hare's house. After reclaiming the hat, he and his wife run from guards, in which Priscilla is fatally injured by an arrow. With her last breaths, she persuades him to go home without her so Grace won't be orphaned. Honoring her wish, Jefferson cradles her body a final time before going into his hat. Regretful that his line of work caused Priscilla's death, he retires the portal hat, opting to live poorly as long as he can be with his daughter. Making a meager living as a mushroom seller, he and his daughter are playing hide-and-seek in the woods when they spot the Queen's carriage outside their house. Jefferson instructs Grace to wait outside, and he goes into the house where the Queen, Regina, asks for his help retrieving something from another land. Temptingly, she promises him riches so he can lavish his precious daughter. Jefferson refuses her request, which she seemingly accepts with no argument. During a market trip, Grace wants a rabbit doll, though he cannot afford it. He tries bargaining with the vendor, an old woman, but she turns him away. Despite that, Grace is not upset, but Jefferson begins to worry that he cannot give his daughter a happy life. Unseen to them, the old woman is Regina in disguise. Returning home, Jefferson gives Grace an improvised toy rabbit he made for her, and the two enjoy a make-believe tea party. Wishing to give her a better childhood, he decides to take up on the Queen's offer. Jefferson informs Grace of this, which she pleads against, but he promises to be back in time for tea. After sending his daughter off to the neighbors, he and Regina jump into the hat and arrive in a room of portals to other lands. Jefferson warns that if two people enter Wonderland, then only the same amount of people can exit out. In Wonderland, Regina burns a route through a hedge maze and reaches a vault where she snatches a box. After outrunning the Queen of Hearts' guardsmen, Regina reveals the item in the box is her father, and she intends to return home with him. Thus, Jefferson is entrapped by her while the pair leave for the Enchanted Forest. The guards catch up, and then haul Jefferson to the Queen of Hearts, who beheads him, yet he remains alive. Panicked, he admits what happened with Regina and his hat, so the Queen of Hearts orders him to make another one. Following numerous failed attempts to do so, Jefferson manically works on a new hat while the room is already filled with thousands of them. }} Later, Jefferson strikes a deal with Regina to get rid of Emma by retrieving something from the Enchanted Forest in exchange for erasing memories of his past life, and creating new lives for himself and his daughter. After Regina provides him with his old portal-jumping hat, he requests magic in order to open a vortex. She sacrifices a ring, but it only has enough power to open a tear into the past Enchanted Forest. Thus, Regina retrieves a poisoned apple, which she bakes into an apple turnover and gives to Emma as a parting gift. Though her hopes are set on the savior consuming it, Henry falls victim to the apple's cursed power. With his end of the bargain fulfilled, Jefferson confronts Regina as she is visiting a comatose Henry at hospital. He desires his reward for helping her, but she coldly refuses to honor their agreement as the deal became void since Emma didn't eat the poisoned apple. Furious at being "screwed over" by Regina a second time, Jefferson threatens that their business is not finished, but she doesn't take his warning seriously. Realizing there is still one other way to ruin Regina, he breaks into the hospital's psychiatric ward, drugging nurse with spiked tea, and frees Belle from her imprisonment. While the girl is puzzled by his help, Jefferson simply instructs her to seek out Mr. Gold and tell him that Regina was the one who locked her away. }} In the aftermath, the creature disappears into a portal made by the hat, though Emma and Mary Margaret are sucked in as well. Desperate to regain his wife and daughter, David seeks out the owner of the hat by bargaining with Mr. Gold for a locator potion. Infused with potion substance, the hat takes a life of its own and leads David straight to Jefferson, who is stuck inside an overturned car. Once freed, Jefferson is questioned about how to find Emma and Mary Margaret, but he laughs at David's assumption that the Enchanted Forest is destroyed and gone. Refusing to assist him with the rescue mission, Jefferson then escapes. Seeking solace at the dock, Jefferson is approached by Henry. Assuming the boy wants the same thing as David, he once again refuses to help. Instead, Henry presses him about why he hasn't spoken to his daughter, Paige, yet since the curse has been broken. Distraught over the possibility of bringing himself into her life again, Jefferson admits he feels guilty for having left to go to Wonderland and then being unable to return to her, but Henry persuades him that it's now or never. After school dismissal as the students are let out for the day, Jefferson notices Paige walking in the opposite direction on the street. He calls her by the name he has always known her as, Grace, to which she turns around, ecstatic to see her father, and runs into his waiting arms. After an emotional embrace between the two, they walk off together. }} Family [[Paige]]}} ---- Trivia |-|Character Notes= Etymology *The rock band Jefferson Airplane has a hit song called "White Rabbit". The song uses imagery from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and was written by lead singer Grace Slick. Grace is the name of Jefferson's daughter. **Jefferson buys his daughter a white rabbit toy at the market. In addition, the playing card Regina puts on Paige's bike plate shows the White Rabbit. *Jefferson is one of few characters from the first Dark Curse who is confirmed to have the same real name in Storybrooke as his Enchanted Forest counterpart; the others being Regina, David and Mother Superior. Character Notes *He is one of the few characters in the Enchanted Forest to call the Evil Queen by her given name. *He is a former business associate of Rumplestiltskin and Victor Frankenstein. However, he left after the business cost him his wife. *He claims to be an amateur cartographer and has mapped the woods surrounding Storybrooke. *Emma and the White Rabbit both refer to him as the Mad Hatter. Even though the character is often referred to as such, the term Mad Hatter is never actually used in Lewis Carroll's novel. **However, the White Rabbit also uses the correct name "Hatter", as does Alice and the Knave of Hearts. *He describes himself as a "portal-jumper," with his hat being the portal. *He bears a scar on his neck from when the Queen of Hearts had his counterpart's head cut off in Wonderland. |-|Production Notes= Production Notes *The casting call describes him as "late 20s to Mid 30s, a rakishly handsome, former criminal who in Fairy Tale Land has given up his life of crime and dedicated himself to his daughter, while in Storybrooke he is a dangerous and mysterious figure who knows about the curse and attempts to convince Emma that it is real." *Jefferson is inspired by rock star Mick Jagger in the 1960s. According to Edward Kitsis, the famous lead singer of The Rolling Stones had a "weird, sixties, sort of Edwardian feel to him". Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, who are fans of The Rolling Stones, felt that this was who the Hatter should be on their show. *During the production of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, it was initially reported that the show would recast the Hatter due to Sebastian Stan's commitment to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, Edward Kitsis later revealed the next month that the character would not be recast, and the series would proceed without him. |-|Cultural References= Fairytales and Folklore *Despite being named the Hatter (the term "Mad Hatter" is never actually used in the novel), the character is never referred to as wearing any kind of headgear in ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. His signature top hat comes from John Tenniel's illustrations from the first edition of the novel. His headgear is further elaborated on in The Nursery "Alice", a shortened version written by Lewis Carroll for young children. This version states that the character is wearing a hat on his head with a price tag on it, because it was meant to be sold. |-|Set Notes= Props Notes *When Jefferson is rescued from his car by David, he comes out of the wreckage clutching a stuffed bunny,File:202NoOneHeardMe.png a reference to the White Rabbit and the March Hare from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. *During the second Alice's tea party in Gothel's tower, she picks up a top hat and refers to it as "Mr. Hatter", a reference to the character from the novel. Set Dressing *Among the many fairy tale illustrations pinned to the wall in Henry's room is "A Mad Tea Party"File:104ShoeOff.png (1907) by the famous English book illustrator Arthur Rackham. It is an illustration of a scene from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with Alice at the tea party with the Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse. **"Alice in Wonderland", an illustration by the American illustrator Jessie Willcox Smith, can also be seen. This picture is from Nora Archibald Smith's book Boys and Girls of Bookland (1923) and features Alice surrounded by the characters of Wonderland, including the Queen of Hearts, the Hatter and the White Rabbit. However, all that can be seen of the Hatter on the show's illustration, is his hat in "The Price of Gold" (in "The New Neverland", the Hatter has been cropped off).File:310BedTime.png *The framed prints in the hallway of Jefferson's mansion are John Tenniel's illustrations from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. One of them shows the Hatter with Alice, the March Hare and the Dourmouse at the famous tea party.File:117SneakingDownTheHallway.png *When David finds Jefferson, there is a "Deluxe Tea Set" scattered on the ground;File:202Help!.png referencing the imaginary tea parties Grace used to throw with her stuffed animals in "Hat Trick". *When young Alice returns to Victorian England, she walks past a small dining table with several plush toys sitting in chairs around it. The party guests at the table include a man in a hat.File:W101TeaParty3.png Years later, Alice's daughter has the same toy.File:W113IDontKnow.png *During the second Alice's tea party in New Wonderland,File:708BeLostToo.png a black top hat is sitting on the table.File:708TopHat.png The Hatter was one of the people who attended the tea party in the novel. |-|Goofs= Goofs *When Jefferson releases Belle from her cell, his neck scar from the side and back is missing. |-|Other Notes= Other Notes *According to not-canon Once Upon a Time: The Untold Stories, he is twenty-nine years old.File:USGraceLetter.png Appearances STORYBOOKS *Jefferson appears in Henry's storybook in "Hat Trick",File:117MadHatterStorybook.png "We Are Both"File:202MadHattersHat.png and "Selfless, Brave and True".File:218MadHatter.png}} Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage. See also *Jefferson's Car *Jefferson's Cottage *Jefferson's Hats *Jefferson's Mansion (Enchanted Forest) *Jefferson's Mansion (Storybrooke) *Mad Hatter's House References }} fr:Chapelier fou de:Jefferson (Märchenland) it:Cappellaio Matto ru:Джефферсон (Зачарованный Лес) nl:Gekke Hoedenmaker Category:Enchanted Forest Characters Category:Storybrooke Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Season One Characters Category:Season Two Characters Category:Once Upon a Time Characters Category:Out of the Past Characters